Yang paused while still facing the black board. At first Blake thought this was just theatrics, but after a few moments, she realised how Yang's free hand was clenched. "You still paying attention?" she said dangerously, slightly turning her head towards Blake's direction. Blake had been silent for so long, she could not find her voice to answer immediately. Yang's fist relaxed, "Well, if I'm boring you..." but then Blake found her voice, "No I...I'm listening!" Yang did not answer and continued.
The bullets each met their mark in the skull of one of those monsters behind Ruby and me. They fell to the ground with the soft thud. The men who had not been hit momentarily backed away, visibly shocked and caught off guard. They had been so mesmerised by the grey man's disturbing recovery, that they couldn't have expected such an accurate counter attack so soon. I could see...I could see the smile on the grey guys face widen as they all hesitated. I guess the idea of them being afraid made him happy or something. Then...all hell broke loose.
I had assumed the axe guy was in charge until now but at that point, any semblance of leadership was replaced with anarchy. The axe man roared with fury and the mob advanced, passing him, some throwing their empty guns to the ground and sprinting towards the man in grey, they're swords raised. My heart was beating in my throat; I didn't know what to do. I was in the middle of a war zone with my kid sister and had nowhere to go. They were closing in, snarling and cursing. The grey guy was not moving at all, almost as if he was enjoying the moment.
On an impulse, I scrambled to my feet and tried to grab Ruby. There was nothing I could do to stop this but I could at least try and get her out of the way. Someone else, however, had different plans. In a Flash of black and white, a clocked figure landed among Ruby and me, he threw Ruby in the wagon and kicked it; she went sailing out of the stampedes way. He then grabbed me around the waist and jumped with amazing speed, up into a tree branch just as the hoard met the grey man. I was in shock for a moment, dizzy and confused.
In the tree, it took about 30 seconds before I got a good look at our rescuer; he was a rather short person, wearing a black garb with a floor length black cloak, with matching gloves and boots. On his head he was wearing a slim black hood with another one of those wide brimmed hats and what appeared to be a white pointed bird mask, like a plague doctor. I stared at him while the sounds of combat echoed along the tree line.
I was in a daze for a second before remembering what was going on below me.
"Help him"! I pleaded with the man in the bird mask. I didn't care what kind of monster that guy was, he couldn't take on those odds alone. I had felt how strong that bastard with the axe was when he had been holding me, he was strong but it was more than that, his strength was twisted and erratic...it almost seemed evil.
Despite my panic, my subconscious noticed something. The cloak warped his figure a bit, but that man was strangely...curvy. The guy just stood there for a few seconds looking down; at first I thought he didn't hear me. However, when I opened my mouth to ask again, the figure turned to me and began to speak, what replied was the voice of a woman.
"Don't concern yourself with him; Djura can handle himself; she said slowly and very clearly. If I know him and I do, he's probably enjoying this, it's been a while since he was able to cut loose ...are you alright?"
Her voice was muffled because of the mask, but at the same time, I could still hear how soft, calm and relaxed she sounded. At the same time, she had a swift, matter of fact way of speaking. She seemed like the kind of person who didn't mess around with pleasantries.
"What"? I was confused, "who are you, what are you doing ...w...Why are you helpi-I asked if you're alright" she interrupted. I was kind of caught off guard by her tone; it had a kind of motherly feel to it. She seemed to switch from speaking very precisely and distantly to slow and concernedly. "Y...yeah I'm fine, I stuttered out, who are you? What are those things?" She turned away from me and her gaze returned to the ground.
"For now...only know that they are your enemy, they will not listen to reason...not anymore". I stared at her, why was she being so cryptic?
"If you're worried" said the bird mask woman "take a look, try and keep your eye on 'I'm...I dare you." I looked down and saw those monsters trying and failing to pin down...well...a greyish blur.
The area below me was a wild cavalcade of violence, all centred on the grey man. He was fighting in a way I had never seen before, his fighting style used a combination of punching and slashing motions with that weird stake weapon on his left forearm, the blade seemed to extend and retract of its own accord in order to suit his situation. With the use of his gun to either bash or shoot an opponent, the other guys were practically invisible compared to him.
As two approached him, weapons raised-ready to stab; he dashed forward and took the one on the left's throat. This knocked the other off course. He used the dead body of the guy he just killed as a meat shield to block a guy who had just tried to blindside him with a gunshot. Then, circumventing the now dead body, he dashed forward with an astounding speed. The grey man raised his silver weapon; the blade now retracted, and used it to punch the gunman in the stomach. The force was enough to lift that big man off his feet and, before he could even hit the ground, the muzzle of the blunderbuss was against his head.
He spun around, jerking his head to the right just far enough to dodge another blade, just passing by his shoulder. Using the butt of the gun, he smacked the attacker s hand, knocking the weapon out of his hand. The force of the impact forced him to the ground and before he could move again, the sole of a boot had crushed his skull into the dirt.
Even though they had him so outnumbered, he was taking them apart one by one like they were nothing. The wild smile on his face combined with the flash of his red eye made this man look like a mad demon. The speed of his movements was making it hard to even tell who he was fighting. No sooner did an enemy reach him; they were already falling to the floor.
As the mobs ranks began to dwindle, they became more frantic and reckless, some forgetting their weapons and trying to restrain him the old fashioned way, they were the unlucky ones... because they got to see what I was waiting for, the method of how this guy had shot the axe man's arm. The unarmed men ran towards the grey man whose name apparently was Djura. He stood perfectly upright still smiling. I began to worry again, was he gonna just stand there? I had my question answered almost immediately.
"Overly dramatic as usual..." said the woman, weary irritation in her voice.
Djura suddenly went into a battle stance, holding his gun arm out in front of him as if using it as a crude shield. His metal arm was drawn back in a position as if he was preparing for a hard punch. His entire body seemed to be tensed and his face was emotionless, straining for some reason.
"...Wait for it" said the woman, under her breath. I looked from her to Djura, wondering what was going to happen next. The metal weapon on Djura's arm was beginning to shake and steam, a small metal bar began to draw back from the centre of the metal tank that was his arm. As it did this, Djura drew the arm back even further, preparing to strike. The guys were about to dog pile him-suddenly he slammed his metal arm towards the ground. BANG!
There was a deafening gunshot and a blinding flash of light. I covered my eyes because of the strain and when I opened them...Djura was standing alone in the middle of a smouldering crater the size of a Nevermore. The men who hadn't been caught in the blast began to back away.
Djura looked back up at them, the grin on his face had returned and a moment later, he was among them. I was so shocked by the size of the crater; I almost took a step back, before realising i was in a tree.
"...Hydraulics" I whispered under my breath as I watched Djura resume his fight.
"Nooow you're getting it" said the woman, a note of amusement in her voice. Honestly, the way he fought was...cool, the punching motion, the speed, the fact that he was always on the offensive...I was amazed. Then I realised something...something that made me almost fall out of the tree.
"Where's my sister"!
I yelled at the woman in the mask. Her head snapped to look at me and the moved to scan the crowd.
"The girl with the red cloak is not down there, she said in a slightly faster and more urgent voice, I couldn't carry you both, knocked her clear so Djura could fight without holding back". I sighed with relief, but then I noticed something else that made me sick with fear, the man with the axe was gone too, I couldn't see him fighting.
"That psycho that was holding me is gone!" I yelled at her. The woman scanned the crowd once again then turned back to me.
"We'll have to split up and look for her, stay out of sight, I'll distract them to keep them off you" she said to me, quickly before jumping into another tree and disappearing into the darkness, leaving me by myself.
Yang turned around this time, looking Blake dead in the face before continuing. Blake's hands were covering her mouth and her eyes were wide with horror.
I didn't waste time, I didn't care if they saw me, I brought her here, it was my fault and I wasn't going to let Ruby get hurt because of how gullible I was. In a sudden fit of rage, I jumped out of the tree and landed roughly on the ground. I cried out in pain, I had twisted my ankle. Despite the pain, I got up with difficulty and tried to walk, I could manage it but I had to limp, I couldn't run. I still didn't care if they saw me or not and I sure as hell didn't care if they heard me.
"Ruby"! I yelled as loud as I could, moving around the edge of the blood bath that was the mob and Djura, just beyond the tree line. "Ruby, Ruuuuuuubyyyyy"! I knew that yelling was pointless; she couldn't hear me even if she was still in the clearing. I decided to check the surrounding woods, she may have gone there to try and hide. I ran into the brush as fast as I could, occasionally winching at the pain in my ankle but not stopping.
The forest was thick, in the dark it was hard to see that far ahead of me, and I fell over twice in the first minute of searching because I couldn't see the roots of trees at my feet. I had completely lost my visual sense of direction in my desperation, the only way I could still tell where the battle I left was located was but the shouts and cries in the middle distance through the trees.
I was still yelling Ruby's name, desperately trying to find any trace of her. The pain in my ankle was getting worse and my knees were bleeding badly from where I had fallen earlier. I ran passed a clearing and decided to go back and check it, just as I rounded the corner, I saw something that made me scramble back behind it. The man with the axe was hunched against a tree on the opposite side of the clearing...and he...
Yang paused at this point and Blake suddenly sat up straight, she didn't want to make her mad again, but as she saw the blonde turn around, Blake saw the tears in her eyes. They were hot tears. Painful tears. They were tears of someone who was trying hard to recall something that was very physiologically affecting. Blake straightened up a bit more and gave Yang her undivided attention, out of respect. Despite the tears, Yang smiled and continued.
H-he was hunched over so I couldn't see his face, but I could tell he looked different. He was taller with longer arms and legs, and his back was far more hunched than it was before. I could see that he was hairier and at the end of his arms and legs...they resembled claws, not hands or feet. He was taking deep haggard breaths, and seemed to be trying to speak. I didn't know what was wrong with that guy but I didn't wanna know, finding Ruby was my main objective.
I turned to go when I heard that things voice. The most terrible voice that I had ever heard. It was much deeper than before and had a certain slur to it. "Gasp...gasp... stupid brat...come back, I need...I need more". I stood ramrod still after he said this. Was he talking to me? I looked back and surveyed the beast again; he was still hunched by the tree. I surveyed the rest of the clearing and saw something both made my heart leap and dissolve at the same time.
I saw her. Ruby was huddled at the foot of a tree a little way along from the monster. I was confused, why had she not run? Then I noticed her face. She looked very distant and limp...she looked...dead. For a moment, I thought that thing had killed her. I was gonna run, I was gonna kill it, I didn't care that it was bigger than me, I didn't are that I had no weapon, I didn't even care that I was probably going to die. All I cared about was avenging her.
Just as these rash thoughts were going through my head, she glanced at me, and a hint of seriousness seemed to enter her eyes. Despite the circumstances, I let out a sigh of relief, she was alive. I was confused again however, when she did not move. Why was she still here? I began to creep over towards where she was sat. This made her eyes widen but she made no sound, in hindsight she was probably not trying to alert the creature to my presence. The axe thing seemed to be preoccupied with something. I pulled on her arms and tried to get her to stand up but she wouldn't.
"Ruby, are you ok? We gotta go" I said, panicking. She didn't answer; that's when I saw her face, she was staring behind me at the thing that once resembled a man. "Ruby please" I begged, still pulling on her, trying to get her to move but she wouldn't budge an inch.
I then noticed that she was shaking. I felt dread begin to fill my stomach. Slowly...I turned around. Axe man was standing only a few feet away from the tree, with his evil eyes fixed on Ruby. I held Ruby and stared at him. His face...something was wrong with his face, it was elongated and his face was definitely hairier than it had been back in front of the barn. He was much taller and hunched over. His eyes had much larger pupils now; he looked completely non-human.
I understood why Ruby had been frozen by this guy's gaze. For a moment, he did not move, he just stared at Ruby and me with pure hatred burning in his insane eyes. Then he began to advance on us slowly, he seemed to be trying to talk but his mouth was not the shape it was before so he only managed growls and snarls. I found it almost impossible to look away from that...that thing, but I looked down at Ruby whose eyes were wide and unblinkingly looking from the creature to me.
"Run, you're in the way" she said to me, in a shaky but oddly confident voice. I stared at her, all the colour had drained from her face, her pupils seemed smaller than before, and she looked kind of distant. "I'm not leaving you"! I shouted, with my back to the creature, so she would focus on me "come on, move"! Before either of us could say anything else, we heard an ear-splitting howl, I span around, holding tight to Ruby.
The creature had flown into a rage and was charging at us, its teeth bore, the axe lay forgotten-the thing had its hands open to reveal long thin claws. I was Frozen, I couldn't move Ruby; I pulled and begged and pleaded her to move but she was rooted to that spot. The creature was close enough now to attack; it raised one of its large mangled claws and made a swipe at me, probably trying to get me off Ruby. I felt a surge of force underneath me and my hands were ripped off of Ruby's shoulders …but it wasn't the creature that threw me off of her. It was Ruby herself.
She had whizzed past me at a speed I had never seen before and stopped abruptly, right in front of the creature. The thing shuddered with the impact, and then emitted a howl of pain that sent it staggering back. Only when I saw that Ruby was holding a kitchen knife did I understand what had happened. The blade was the longest that we had in our house, and there was dark red blood covering it all the way to the handle. She was staring at it with fury blazing in her eyes.